A-Z

For most of its history, agriculture virtually defined South Carolina, and no other single force has so profoundly influenced the state’s economy, history, demographics, and politics.

Aiken owes its existence to the South Carolina Railroad, its personality to its erstwhile “winter colony” of wealthy northern sports enthusiasts, and its economic vitality and relatively cosmopolitan spirit to the U.S. government’s massive Savannah River Site nuclear weapons facility.

Bounded on the west by the Savannah River, Aiken County lies at the western end of the state’s Sandhills region, whose poor soils necessitated the development of alternatives to farming. These nonagricultural alternatives defined much of the county’s history.

The Aiken Standard traces its origins to the short lived Aiken Press, which ran from 1867 to 1868, with the noted botanist Henry William Ravenel serving as its first editor.

The house and its outbuildings are one of the most complete and best preserved urban domestic complexes of the antebellum era.

A staunch Democrat, from 1864 to 1866 Aiken represented Abbeville District in the S.C. House of Representatives. During Reconstruction, the link he had earlier made between southernism and agrarianism grew stronger.

As a Unionist, Governor Aiken opposed the radical views of Robert Barnwell Rhett and members of the so-called “Bluffton Movement,” which called for secession if Texas was not annexed to the United States as a slave state.

In 1828 Aiken and others received a charter from the General Assembly authorizing the creation of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company (SCC&RR). Aiken, the railroad’s largest investor, was soon chosen as president of the company.

In 1967, by Act 398, the General Assembly created the ABC Commission to regulate spirits and other alcoholic formulations through licensing and enforcement.

On the eve of the Civil War, per capita wealth for the free residents of All Saints was among the highest in the nation.

Allan’s most popular creation was “Boysi,” a comical, stereotypical black servant getting his way with his white employers.

Following her graduation in 1894 from the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in 1891, Allan returned to Charleston and participated in the first sitting of the South Carolina Medical Board, the only woman to do so.

As it has for generations, the family run milling company continues to produce cornmeal, mixes, feed, and breeders in addition to Adluh Flour.

The productive presidency of David Henry Sims, an Oberlin graduate and a future AME Church bishop, developed Allen University into a full fledged seat of learning.

Allen’s poetry combines contemporary philosophical concerns with a format more aligned with earlier poetic styles.

Although Allen spent only six of his sixty years in the state, his association with the Poetry Society of South Carolina came at a crucial time in his development as a writer.

Construction of the Savannah River Site after World War II briefly transformed Allendale into a boomtown. But when Interstate 95 opened east of Allendale County, the tourist-oriented economy along U.S. 301 collapsed

Allendale is South Carolina’s youngest county, yet it contains the oldest known human habitation in the state.

Allison received mainstream recognition with her first novel, Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), which in 1996 was adapted to a film directed by Anjelica Huston.

In 1828 he launched his formal political career and won election to the S.C. House of Representatives, where he represented Prince George Winyah Parish from 1828 to 1831. He was subsequently involved in several disputed elections involving the Prince George Winyah S.C. Senate seat, in large part because of his staunch support of nullification.